Means for preventing the spread of conflagrations.



PATENTED NOV. 28, 1905.

E. BAXTER. MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE SPREAD 0F GONPLAGRA TIONS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB-6, 1906.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrron.

- EDWARD BAXTER, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y. MEANS FQR PREVENTING THE SPREAD OF CONFLAGRATIONS.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 28, 1905.

Application filed February 6, 1905. Serial No. 244,307.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD BAXTER, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Means for Preventing the Spread of Conflagrations, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide effective means which can be carried out economicallyfor preventing the spread of fire from one building to another through the windows of the latter. Where a burning building is situated near to other buildings, the principal danger of spread of the fire to these latter lies in the entrance of the flames through the win.

dows; and it is the principal object of this invention to supply means whereby this may be prevented.

It has been heretofore proposed to protect buildings from the spread of fire from adjacent buildings by supplying a sheet or curtain of water falling over the front of the building to be protected from the eaves or roof of the same. The principal difiiculty met with in this method of protection lies in the fact that it is impractical to keep a stream or sheet of water in contact with a vertical surface for any great distance. The water next the wall is retarded by friction, and the outer layers of water acquire velocity faster than the inner ones. The result is that the sheet or stream of water tends to form a cascade, leaving a space between the water and the wall, and if there is any wind the water is rapidly dissipated. Moreover, where water falls freely in the air in this way the resistance of the air quickly breaks it up into drops, and even where the wind is absent the fire soon gets access to the building.

My present invention is intended to supply means whereby these difficulties are obviated and the protecting water is forced to flow quietly in direct contact with the surface to be protected.

My invention in a preferred form is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, where- Figure 1 is an elevation of a building supplied with my improvement and showing a portion of the wall removed. Fig. Qisasection of a portion of said building, showing windows unprotected by shutters. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing shutters for protecting the windows, and Fig. 4 1s a sectional view of a preferred form of deflector.

j The wall of the house is shown at 1, and on the left is shown a series of windows 2, unprovided with shutters. On the right the windows are provided with hinged shutters 3, which can be closed when the fire occurs. I have shown my device so applied as to direct the water curtain over the windows; but it is to be understood that my invention may be employed so as to direct the water to any portion of the walls which it is desired to protect.

In order to carry out the principle of my invention, I employ means for preventing the stream of water from acquiring undue velocity and also for directing the streams continually inward against the wall, window, or shutter as the water reaches different portions of the wall to be protected. The means employed for directing the water inward'I call deflectors, and these are so placed and proportioned as may be necessary in the given circumstances, it being necessary to bear in mind that the water must not be allowed to fall far without meeting a deflector to throw it in toward the wall.

Referring to the drawings, the stream of water is supplied by the pump at, which draws its supply preferably from a tank 5, which may be itself supplied by means of the city water-pipe 6. The water is pumped upward through the pipe 7 (shown in dotted lines) and finds its way under pressure to the horizontal pipe 8, which is perforated, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, at those locations where it is desired to start the stream or protecting-sheet. At these points mufflers or hoods 9 are fastened to the wall and surround the pipe 8, so as to arrest the violent flow due tothe pressure in the pipe and force the water to begin its journeydown the wall quietly as it leaves the openings 10. The water leaving the mufflers 9 is caught just above the first window by a deflector 11, which may be made of sheet-iron or other appropriate material and is bolted or otherwise fastened to the wall. This deflector takes the form of a trough, and where the window is without any shutters the bottom of this trough extends inward, as shown at 12, so as to throw the water directly against the surface of the window. The water which flows down the window 2 reaches the sill and is there caught by another deflector 11, havinga lower lip 12, which starts the water once more in a quiet stream down the wall to deliver it to the nextdeflector 11, &c. Shelves or brackets 13 are provided, preferably, just within the deflectors and extending across the same from side to side wherever the speed of the water would otherwise be too great as it enters the deflector. These retarders are intended to prevent the development of an excessive velocity in the water, and it insures a quiet gentle flow of the same out of the deflectors.

Where shutters 3 are used, the upper deflector 11 is fastened to the shutter and the corresponding retarder 13, if used, is fastened to the wall. It is often found advisable to apply deflectors at one or two points along the shutter, as shown at 15, although this is not always essential.

In order that the shutters may open, the lower deflectors 11 in Fig. 3 cannot extend above the sill of the window, and I therefore prefer to provide a retaining-plate 15, attached to the shutter along its lower edge and extending the whole width of the shutter, as shown in Fig. 1.

One preferred form of deflector is shown in Fig. 4, pivoted, as at 16, to the projecting sill 17, so that when it is desired to expel any dirt which may gather in the deflector this latter may be tipped up into the position shown in the dotted lines and the dirt dropped out.

At the bottom of each stream I place a catchbasin 18, and pipes 19 lead from these catchbasins to a common return-pipe 20 above the tank 5. Thus the water is used over and over again, and great economy is efl ected. Of course there will be a certain loss by evaporation and a small percentage of the water may escape the deflectors. This waste is of course made up by supply through the pipe 6.

The principle of my invention lies in the provision of deflectors at such intervals as to counteract the tendency of the water to escape from the wall, and I am not to be limited to any particular number, shape, or position of these devices. The same is true with regard to the retarders. It will be found advisable, of course, to supply either deflectors alone or deflectors and retarders wherever projections from the main surface of the wall tend to break the flow and cause the cascade.

Various modifications and changes consistent with the spirit of this invention will occur to those skilled in the art, and my claims are not to be limited to the details herein shown and described.

What I claim is- 1. In means for fire protection, a reservoir near the ground and means for conveying water from said reservoir to the top of the wall of a building, in combination with a deflector-plate fastened to said wall between the eaves and the ground, and so placed as to leave aspace between said plate and the wall for confining the water as it flows along said Wall and means for returning the water after it has flowed over the wall to said reservoir near the ground, substantially as described. v

2. In a device for fire protection, means for discharging water at the top of the wall in combination with deflectors placed at intervals between the caves and the ground along the course of the water so discharged tending to divert the stream toward the wall, substantially as described. 7

3. In a device of the class described, a water-supply pipe at the top of'the wall, in combination with transverse deflectors fastened to the wall at intervals and transverse retarders near said deflectors, substantially as described.

4. In a device of the class described, means for discharging water over a Wall, windows in the wall, and shutters over said windows in combination with water deflectors transversely arranged outside of said shutters, substantially as described.

5. In a device ofthe class described, and in combination with means for delivering a stream of water over a wall, a window in said wall, a shutter on said window, a transverse water-deflector fastened to the top of said shutter, a transverse deflector fastened to the wall beneath the window and a water-retaining plate transversely along the lower edge of the shutter, substantially as described.

6. In a device of the class described, a wall having a projection such as a window-sill, in combination with means for discharging water down over said Wall and projection, and a deflecting trough surrounding the front of said projection and bent around the sides of the same, said trough being pivoted at the sides so as to tip upward, substantially as described.

7 In a device of the class described, a water circulating system adapted to throw a stream of water down a wall, in combination with deflectors at intervals in the path of said stream, catch-basins at the bottom of the wall and pipes leading from said catch-basins back to the water-circulating system, substantially as described.

EDWARD BAXTER. Witnesses:

H. S. MAoKAYE, FLORENCE S. Flex. 

